EagleOnyx Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 Hey I'm working on this 1/72 Hasegawa Mirage 2000 in The Idolmaster2 Anime character paint scheme. I've never played the game that these correspond to but I liked the designs and strangeness of these kits. It's definitely different. I guess Hasegawa doesn't actually produce the plastic for all of these kits as this one is a Reboxed Revell kit. The Box Cover The Star of the show: The Decals! They look pretty nice. Metallic stripes n stuff. Yayoi Takatsuki Herself! Very nicely detailed. When you look up close you can see the dot matrix style printing which is kind of a disappointment. The Sprues The panel lines are engraved but they are very soft and shallow Pretty basic exhaust Cockpit details aren't too bad for this scale I guess. Except here! Ejector pin marks right on the side consoles! Who thought that was a good idea? There are actually pin marks all over the place. Look at the tires. Jeez. Instructions are easy to follow but they are completely in Japanese Full Color Decal placement guide. They go on in a certain color coded order I had to buy Gunze Mr. Color paints so I could match the paint mixing chart as designed. Gunze paints work wonderfully! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EagleOnyx Posted October 27, 2014 Author Share Posted October 27, 2014 (edited) Assembly begins with the cockpit. I'm painting the canopy metallic blue to block out the cockpit view. I wanted to accelerate the build, so I'm skipping painting the cockpit. It doesn't look that bad though. maybe I should have painted it... Glue up Seam work ahead! It came with these resin things to stick to the back. the instructions call out removing some of the plastic by the exhaust to fit them The left side has the material removed and the right side is stock. Here they are installed The wing section fits to the bottom but it's not a perfect fit. The gaps on the uppers were manageable. The intakes fit wasn't great. I got a step on both sides that needed sanding and filler. you can see the not perfect alignment of the forward section of the wings. I painted the intakes before gluing to ensure I got good color coverage in there. Here is a gap shot, I suck at filling gaps. I used superglue and Mr. Surfacer 500. Here is where I am now with the base color coat on Edited October 27, 2014 by EagleOnyx 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EagleOnyx Posted October 29, 2014 Author Share Posted October 29, 2014 I started the decals. I started with the bottom, that way if I screwed it up it wouldn't matter as much. They are pretty thick. one of them tore a little when I tried to press it into place over some details. Thankfully that area will be covered by another decal. I am trying Mr. Mark Setter and Mr. Mark Softer on them as I have heard they work well with Japanese decals. This is the side that tore when I tried to force it over the RWR antenna this is where I'm quitting for the night. It's actually going a lot better than I thought it would. The decals had me nervous but they are holding up well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EagleOnyx Posted October 29, 2014 Author Share Posted October 29, 2014 Some more work done today! WhoopS! I forgot to remove the decal number before applying! No worries though because I caught it in time. Some of the decals need to go over some serious bumps. I'm not sure how its going to smooth out in the long run, but it might be ok. The white decals aren't 100% opaque, but they are pretty close. Still working this decal over the RWR antenna The Decals are fitting very nicely overall. The bottom is nearly done I'll get the white stripes on the top side after the bottom side sets up all the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeusa Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 It looks quite nice and you are doing a great job with the decals. I have built a couple of these (WIP for http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234964072-the-idolmster-f-22-raptor/ and http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234943817-how-to-build-an-f-2a-and-lose-your-mancard/). I found the Micro Set/Sol system works really well for these decals and if you let them set enough in Micro Sol, they will conform to just about any bump and curve thrown at them. Just take your time. Look forward to your next progress report. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darby Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 That is one Woodstock inspired scheme. I tell you what though, those cartoon characters give me the heeby jeebies. I think I would want a blue canopy as well If I had to sit in it. Looking forward to the finished model though out of curiosity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EagleOnyx Posted December 8, 2014 Author Share Posted December 8, 2014 The plane is pretty much done. I still haven't finished the weapons though, I don't know why I wait till the end to do that stuff... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeusa Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 It is looking really good. Seems like you tamed the decals. I always wait to do the weapons at the end, as often, there are no call out as to how to do the weapons for these kits, and the color and decal layout of the weapons. Keep up the good work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EagleOnyx Posted December 8, 2014 Author Share Posted December 8, 2014 Thanks for the kind words! I was scared that the decals were going to be a nightmare but they actually worked very well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeusa Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 For the most part they are well designed and fit together quite well. I'm having some fits with the bottom decals of the typhoon version right now, but overall the decals have always behaved predictably and fit well. You are almost finished, keep plugging away! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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